You never know when tragedy will strike

Yesterday my long time online friend Terry received some terrible news. Her husband was run over by a bulldozer at work and it pinned down his right leg. He had to have it cut off below the knee and is scheduled for a second surgery today too. That's all I know so far , I only hope he can heal and get well again. It's not just a physical tragedy, a very emotional and mental one too.

I am in shock, I have known Terry for years, and we email each other every day with a few words. She and her husband have two young children too who must be so devastated.

Please if you can, send prayers and good thoughts to Terry's husband John and their family, and if you would like to help out even more, our mutual friend Laurie is asking for our help making quilt squares so that she may put together a quilt of love and comfort for the family. She is even offering a giveaway if you get involved, which is the huge jelly roll of fabric you see in this post. I also will be keeping it in my side bar, just click on the link there to go find out all the information.

Terry and Laurie are quilters, and two of the most sweetest and kindest women I have ever met. I think this is a wonderful idea Laurie has , so if you think you can be involved somehow it would be lovely.

Terry has made quilts for project Linus, for the tragedy in Australia when they had the bush fires and for many other good causes, she is very giving and never asks for anything. You can visit her blog at Terry's Treasures and Lauries blog at A Yankee Quilter.

Thank you,
Lynn

Microwave Flower Press Part Two

Look what I found when I went outside this morning. It bloomed last week after the others had already dried up and I thought for sure it would have started drying too by now, but it is still very fresh.
So I plucked the poor thing to test my Micro Flower Press because Kelly was wondering how hydrangeas or roses would dry.
I have the small size Micro press and I thought of putting the whole thing it but it didn't want to squash down, so I plucked a piece off of this pretty fleur.

Below is the before and after.......

The pink seems to dry a pretty purple color and it's not bad, but I may take some smaller cuttings and try it again. It was a bit tricky to get the petals to lay flat. You will have to look at the close up to get a better idea of what I mean.

Now I will show you how my pink hydrangeas dried out this year......
This was a black pot I found at a thrift store, it's an iron pot and I spray painted it heirloom white. See how beautiful they dry, and I just let them dry right in the pot.

You can see some dried roses beside the pot too, I just took them out of an old dusty arrangement I had made 2 years ago and they are still going strong. I havn't decided what to do with them yet, maybe tie a nice ribbon around them and leave them laying on the table? Any ideas?
Something just came to me :) I have a huge bush of Limelight Hydrangea. They bloom a gorgeous yellow, then turn to a green and yellow hue, then some of the petals turn pale pink.

I am off outside to cut one, be right back..........

10 mins later, cut and dried, here is the before photo of this beautiful flower. Thank goodness for digital cameras, what did we do without them?

Here they are dried along with a few dogwood leaves :) Now these, I do like, so guess what I will be doing all day? When dried they don't seem to change color a lot, they still have a pinkish hue to them, just so pretty if you could see them in person. They are almost transparent.
Click on the photo for a close up

Ok ladies, that concludes my experiment for this morning, and I just wanted to say if you missed my post yesterday and havn't a clue what I am talking about, go check it out.
Have a great day, and do something fun :)

Microwave Flower Press

My new toy, a tool for drying flowers in your microwave. I have been meaning to post about it for a while, just never got around to it. It is made of earthenware if that is the correct name for it , a nice heavy clay and very nice looking too.

I only wish I had found this sooner this year because there are not many flowers left for me to dry. I did try some mum's from my garden, they were a dark pink and just look how they turn purple. You can click on the picture for a better look if you want.
I keep meaning to go out and pick some wildflowers that grow along the highway but you know how it is, I forget or when I am on the highway I am usually on my way somewhere, like the dentist today.
This is how it looks inside. There are 2 thick layers of wool and two layers of cotton. You put your flowers or leaves in there, then layer the cotton, the wool and then the other piece of earthenware. Pop it in the microwave for 60 seconds, check on it and if not ready put it back in for more. I have found that most things have taken 2 minutes to dry.

After they are cool I put them in one of my flower presses until I am ready to use them. Which could be next year the way I am, there are so many things I want to play with in my art, just too many really, but at least they are there when I do need them :)

Look how pretty these leaves dried and they are quite close to the original color.
They had fallen off my Virginia Creeper which is now turning red. The leaves first turn a lovely pinkish color then they turn red, then burnt orange. These are going to be so pretty on something :)
This little gadget my husband picked up for me at Lee Valley , not sure if that is just a Canadian company or not. There is another one called Micro Fleur Microwave Flower Press, which is made of plastic and that was the first one I was looking for but couldn't find it without ordering from the U.S. Then a friend told me about this one, and I am very happy with it.

The nice thing is that if you need a leaf right away you can go pick one up outside and dry it in 2 mins, then use it on your art work.
Hey Patty, (she's been wax crazy lately) I was thinking how they would look with some wax, either glue them on art with wax or layer over them. What do you think?

Autumn Fae Journal Page

After weeks of setting this aside I decided to finally finish it this past week.
She is a Faery who lives in a magical forest where the leaves turn to gold as they float the ground. The fae use the leaves to make clothing and to sleep upon, it's a beautiful forest, you really should visit sometime :)

Cooper is snuggled beside me on the couch as he does in the mornings when his mom is on her computer, and he wants to say thank you for all the lovely comments on his post, especially from the other dogs who understood where he was coming from :)
Have a great Sunday my friends, it is wet and gloomy here this morning a great day for relaxing and doing nothing much unless you feel like it.

I can't believe she did this......

Hi, this is Cooper again. I can't believe what mom did, just look at me......

Purple? Orange? What the heck? Is this normal?

Mom left me alone while she went to run some errands and I always sniff the bags to see if she brought me anything when she get's back. She usually does *snicker*... well, I did not expect this.

So she puts this thing on me and it just fits, takes me outside, and it's like 23c plus humidity, then she pesters me to sit still. I think she lost her marbles while she was out.

I told her, I just want to play with my ball, but she kept following me and snapping photos.

I finally said "Look mom, I will sit still but hurry up", and here I am talking and complaining...

Then if that wasn't enough, she asked me to be scary, like, be a scary dog.
Who me? LMBO......
Well I tried, and I must say I do look some vicious , crazy dog don't you think?

Well, relief, she gave up after that, said she was too hot. Well duhhhhhh, what about me? She really was just having fun, please don't go reporting her due to my complaints.

She showed this coat, as she calls it, to my dad when he got home and he said she was crazy *giggle* I had to laugh, I thought so too.
"Oh but I couldn't resist" she said," it was only $1 at Dollarama, how could I not, just for fun?", then she said, "At least I didn't buy the matching booties"...waaaahhhhhh heaven forbid.

Hey, I am thinking maybe if I gain some weight before Halloween it won't fit and then she can't send me out in it with all the kids on my street that I play with :)

Gothic Arch Challenge Bows

This week on Gothic Arches our challenge is to use a bow(s), and I took the easy way out by using this beautiful Paper Whimsy girl who has a bow in her hair. I think she is just "precious" and she reminded me of a prayer by Marianne Williamson which I found in a book. I think those of you who are mother's may really appreciate this, you can change it to a male version too. I don't normally post prayers and such, but this one I find perfect as my daughter is now away from home and finding her own way in life. I love you Ashleigh :)

Dear God,
Please take care of my precious child
as her path now leads her away from me.
May Angels surround her
and may she find her way.
May my love for her
be as a light surrounds her
for all her living days.
Amen.

Altered Keys for ABAA Challenge

This month's challenge at ABAA is to use a key or keys and it finally came to me yesterday what I wanted to do, right near the end of the month too.

I have done two, the first is spray painted gold, but it does chip off, and I have used two old earrings from my stash of found jewelry bits, some lace and some tuile. I even added a little gold crown charm, can you see it?

I am terrible with pliers and wire and any type of jewelry making so I was quite proud of my little charm :)

The second one I spray painted black and gold, the keys were gold to start with and the only two old keys I could find in the house. I am going to have to start asking people not to throw out their old keys but keep them for me, can you imagine how long they would sit in a landfill site to decompose, if ever?

So the black one I used again an earring which is the black oval shape with lovely filigree around it. I used pliers to take the dangly piece from an old necklace someone gave me to use, I think it was Sherry in a swap we were in together, then I used a feather from Dollarama and a piece of black tuile, and it is on a black ribbon to wear as a necklace.


This is the first time I have tried altered keys , they are really fun , maybe you would like to try some. I would do more if I had more old house keys or car keys.

Thanks again Linda and Rosie for a great challenge. I missed the last two months so I just had to do this one, and I am glad I did because they are celebrating the 1 year anniversary of their challenge blog :)

Petite Marie Mixed Media Painting

Bonjour mes amis :)
This is my Petite Doll version of Marie Antoinette.
I have never been into the whole Marie Antoinette scene, but I love Suzi Blu's workshops and this months mini workshop was to create a Petite Doll Marie so I just had to try it. Of course mine is nothing like Suzi's finished canvas, she adds way more to hers, but I don't want it to look like someone elses work anyway right?

This is created on a 12 x 24 inch piece of wood, and I used a lot of my usual texturing techniques on it as well as more modeling paste than usual. I just love that stuff now, I used it in her hair, and look on her sleeves, I used it there too, down the butterfly house so it doesn't look flat and even made roses with it.

Can you tell I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece? The thing is, this is not really a "me" thing either, it is something I would put in a little girls room, but I tried it thinking "what the heck" and just had fun. You would not believe the feelings of joy I felt just being in the process. Now, that must count for something :)

It actually looks a lot nicer in person, her lace doily petticoat thingy does not look pink in person, yet on the photos as I am posting this it does, and I am not liking that at all. Same with her hair, it doesn't look very pink in person.
By the way, the butterflies are rub ons :) I should try painting some one of these days. The tiara is made from a piece of necklace that I won in a giveaway not long ago from Debi, and the hearts are just flat backed shiny hearts.
If you click on the photos you can see all the shiny stuff too, I used glimmer mist, glitter and glimmering chalk pastels in some places.

Hope you had a great weekend, see you soon :)
Lynn

Fabric Collage bookmark

I created this bookmark using art work from Pringle Hill Studio, Paper Whimsy and my own artwork. The Garden Nymph was used on a Gothic Arch challenge I did and I just cropped her in my graphics program before I printed on the fabric. Some of the graphics are printed on a silk, but that stuff is so slippery to sew on things like this, I prefer the cotton printer fabric.

It didn't finish off as I had hoped. That ever happen to you? The problem was I put a dark green wool felt on the back (there is card stock in between), so I had to use the dark green thread and it doesn't look as bright as I had hoped even though there is a lot of dark green in the images, I wanted the soft robins egg blue to be the main color.

You may have to click on the photo and see the close up for details.

Have a great weekend if I don't see you :)
Lynn

Altered Postcard Halloween

This is an altered postcard using water color paper for the background, painted and stamped. I had fun doing the border with my pitt pens :)
The main image is called "The Witch" by E. Myerstein , created in 1884. I love his litho's, you may have seen "The Hornet" which is another of my favorites.
The very handsome "Moon Man" is a free digital image created by my friend Terri from
Pringle Hill Studio, you can find it in her Friday freebie post for last week.
You can find "The Witch" at The Graphic Fairy along with the bat, and the mouse or maybe it's a rat, yeah he does look more like a rat, is from The Vintage Moth, both links are in my side bar to the right.
I cut the calderon from a vintage image and painted the bubbles, did the same with the little mask in her hand, and the stars I already had from long ago.

When Myerstein painted this lovely lady, it was to show how people could dress to costume parties, probably a real fashion statement back then and quite fancy I would say :)
You can read more details about the costume and also save the image at the
Wikimedia Commons.

Sweet Shabby Giveaways

Just look at the two beautiful giveaways I have to share with you....
This Shabby Chic Style Stocking created by Rebecca is stunning!!!!!!!!

and you have until September 19th to enter her draw at her beautiful blog The Gathering Place

The next giveaway is from Carol Anne who shares her wonderful vintage images with is for use in our art work, just love what she has in her giveaway, lots of goodies to play with and Somerset In Love magazine :)
Better get over there and sign up for this one at
Carol Anne's Boutique

Hope you girls don't mind me posting your giveaways together this morning :)
The link to each blog will open in a new window for you so you won't get lost, because I know with both of these amazing blogs, you will get lost in looking around when you get there and maybe not find your way to the other one.

Have a great weekend,
Lynn

Winding down the summer garden

Summer is winding down here in S.Ontario, Canada, and it can be the most beautiful time of year. Pretty soon we will have Indian summer and all the leaves will change to beautiful shades of red and orange, but I have some of those shades already in my planters at my front door.

Each pot has two of these Kale's in there and they will last all winter. When the other plants fizzle out I will add some ornamental cabbage in there too, I have never tried these before so we will see how it goes.
I put these pots together a month ago because my summer flowers were just spent, and now I am ready for Fall :) Why didn't I think of doing this last year and before that?

Most of my plants are drying out or drying up and dying off right now, but my husbands pot of jalapeno's on the deck are still growing strong and producing lots of very hot peppers... ouch.
First time we tried them in a pot too and they did better this year than in the ground where they would have had too much rain anyway.

I found these little mushroom, toadstool type things growing under a bush in the damp ground this morning and they are so pretty. I can imagine little fairies playing there :)

Purple cone flowers or Echinacea are drying up now, but they are just as beautiful at this stage in my eyes, maybe even more so.
This one still has a bit of life in it....

Beautiful pink hydrangeas are drying up now too. I usually cut them around now and let them dry, then they change to a faded purplish shade. I just painted a black pot to white and they will be going in it this year.
Just look at the size of the Limelight Hydrangeas, they reach the top of the fence. They come later than my other hydrangeas and are still fresh, but slowly changing colors.

They start off a beautiful yellow color, then some pinkish hues appear as in the photo below, then they go pink and white, really beautiful, and very easy to grow.
Can you see the Cameleon growing below them? What beautiful shades they are right now, and they grow like weeds here.
I am very happy to see a second blooming on my rose bush, four beautiful pinks arrived this week and they have the most amazing scent.

I can't believe summer is winding down, but in a way I am happy because with these hot flashes I am going through it will be a blessing to have some cooler weather. Won't stop the heat from inside me but at least you can go outside and feel a little better, I get so tired of being inside with the air conditioning on.
I also can't believe I havn't posted in a week. I have no creations to show you because what I am working on are for gifts so I can't show, and I had such a busy week last week that I didn't get a whole lot done. I hope you all had a great week, and I hope to visit you soon :)

Lynn

Gothic Arches Birthday Palooza

Another birthday to celebrate, The Gothic Arches challenge group is 2 years old... Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!
For the next two weeks there will be different challenges, the first being "cupcakes" and the second one is to create a Gothic Arch card, so this is my entry for both combined, but I so enjoyed making this card today I am sure I will make more :)
I have missed creating arches, I just love them, but I had to take time off to concentrate on my classes which are over now, so I can get right back into it.

I used a double sided card stock for this card.
The girls are from a collage sheet by Gail at Shabby Cottage Studio,
and all the other elements are from a collage sheet by Pam at From The Craft Room.
I used a rub on for the words "Happy Birthday" and finished it off with some glitter glue and a little crystal on the girls party hat.

Here is the inside, I added a little trim to the bottom, then it is blank to write a special birthday message :)

Happy Birthday Cooper

Happy 1st birthday to our precious Cooper :) Look how tiny he was when we brought him home last October 26th, at only 2lbs 6oz. The vet gave him a scarf for Halloween, but he didn't keep it on very long.We had just lost our dear sweet Andy an 85lb Golden Retriever in the summer and I knew he could never be replaced but this little guy just won my heart right from the start. I wanted a small dog and one that didn't shed like Andy did, so I looked for a mixed breed. Cooper is part Maltese and part Yorkie.


Wasn't long before he started growing, and growing and growing..........

He was only supposed to grow to 6lbs... yeah right, he just kept on growing........ You never know when you have a mixed breed do you?
If you click on the photo below you can see his first missing teeth, I tried so hard to get this shot of him showing inside his mouth LOL. We never did find those tiny teeth.

By Christmas he was getting even bigger.......

He is now 15lbs , full of energy and just the sweetest little guy, he reminds me a lot of Andy, they have the same temperament. He loves everyone, even likes cats , loves to play with children, yet he is also very relaxed and allows me time to create. He knows now when we go in mom's room it's quiet time, and I just love having him with me.

I'm all grown up now Mom :)
I hope so Cooper, Happy Birthday, we love you :)
Happy September too, can you believe it? Where did the summer go to?